Snails on a Suitcase

We are on our second day of pretty steady rain, and I am SO thankful. It's been a while since we've had a really good rain, and I imagine all the plants luxuriating in it like a waitress in a bath after a long shift. If plants could breathe and sigh, I imagine they'd sigh with relief.

Olga has been reluctant to go outside, understandably, but during a break in the weather late yesterday morning I took the picture above on our high street. It was World Car Free Day, and West End Lane was closed to traffic all day (except for buses and emergency vehicles). Supposedly this is meant to reduce pollution and emphasize the benefits of clean air, but what it really meant is that all the traffic turned one block off West End Lane and went up and down OUR street.

Still, I walked up and down the high street with Olga, taking in the atmosphere. The tents were occupied by community groups educating people about things like recycling and group transportation, and there were musicians and other activities, though the whole scene was somewhat dampened by the weather. At least one jogger took the opportunity to run in the middle of the street, though I hope he kept an eye out for those buses and emergency vehicles.

I saw one woman carrying a rather battered suitcase and realized the suitcase was covered with cobwebs and snails. It looked like she'd found it behind someone's garage. I figured Dave can't make too much fun of me for rescuing things from people's rubbish -- at least I never came home with anything that decrepit.

We've got another orchid in bloom...

...and the white and pink one I showed you a couple of weeks ago is flowering even more profusely.

Dave and I watched "A Very Royal Scandal" over the last few days, which we enjoyed -- it's only three episodes long -- and now we're on the second season of "Monster," about the Menendez brothers. I remember the media being so captivated by that story in the early and mid-'90s, to the point where I developed a severe case of news fatigue about it. "Monsters" (it's plural for this season) promises to be entertaining (if controversial) viewing. For one thing, it proposes an incestuous relationship between the brothers, which I don't think was ever revealed in court -- I remember allegations that the father molested the boys, but never that they were involved with each other. I understand they're hardly model citizens but I'm not sure they deserve that re-victimizing, and isn't the story scurrilous enough without embroidering reality with fantasy?